Illinois has passed legislation entitling employees to unpaid leave when their
spouse or child is called to military service lasting longer than 30 days.

For a Limited Time receive a FREE Compensation Market Analysis Report! Find out how much you should be paying to attract and retain the best applicants and employees, with customized information for your industry, location, and job. Get Your Report Now!

The law, called the Family Military Leave Act, calls for any employer that
employs between 15 and 50 employees to offer up to 15 days of unpaid family
military leave to an employee during the time federal or state deployment orders
are in effect. The act requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide
up to 30 days of unpaid family military leave.

The law covers employees with at least a year on the job and at least 1,250
hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave.

The law requires that before employees take family military leave, they must
exhaust all accrued vacation leave, personal leave, compensatory leave, and
any other leave that may be granted to the employee--except
sick leave and disability leave.

The employee must also give at least 14 days notice if the leave will last
5 or more consecutive work days.

The employer must restore the employee exercising the right to family military
to the position held when the leave started or to a position with equivalent
seniority status, employee benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of
employment.